Five days in a Yemeni hospital Episode 3 - Day3: Omar was wounded in an explosion, & had to be taken to #Aden because the hospital in #Mocha hadn’t opened yet. Since #MSF hospital opened in Mocha, the wounded get treated much quicker.

The famine in Yemen is not simply “man-made.” Particular men are responsible, and they should be brought to justice.

Famines fall on a spectrum, from those due to natural calamity to those resulting from genocide or extermination. We hear a lot about famines attributed to drought and, supposedly, overpopulation, but the former are rare, and the latter simply do not exist. Almost all famines are principally caused by war and political repression carried out with disregard for human life. And so it is in Yemen.

The key battleground for the Saudi-Emirati coalition is the economy: they have blockaded Houthi areas, closing the land and sea borders and the airports, displacing people en masse and depriving them of food, clean water, and health care. Though distress mounted, with reports of hunger and disease, the Houthis did not withdraw. The Saudi-led coalition then escalated month by month: it bombed medical centers and water wells and drilling rigs, and its puppet government closed the central bank, stopping payments to civil servants and pensioners. There is no shortage of food today; a large section of the population simply doesn’t have money to buy it from the local markets.

It would be transformative, and long overdue, to recognize mass starvation as a crime. Seventy-five years ago, starvation should have become a fixture in our understanding of atrocity. In his book, Survival in Auschwitz (1947), Primo Levi writes:

They crowd my memory with their faceless presences, and if I could enclose all the evil of our time in one image, I would choose this image which is familiar to me: an emaciated man, with head dropped and shoulders curved, on whose face and in whose eyes not a trace of a thought is to be seen.

Instead of Levi’s image of the starving man, gas chambers and extermination squads came to dominate our conception of evil.

For years starvation has been a stagnant backwater of international criminal law. That may finally be changing. The legal understanding of starvation crimes is evolving fast

Starvation has indeed long been a tool of war.

It was not until the post–Cold War establishment of special tribunals that prosecuting starvation crimes really became possible. The failure to do so reflects less a shortcoming in the law than a lack of prosecutorial ambition, public pressure, and activist attention.

While the sharp end of criminalization is prosecution, it need not be the end goal. There is emancipatory power in the simple but profound step of recognizing the harm and naming the crime. Mass starvation is an act for which its political and military perpetrators should be ashamed, not its victims. Yet without naming it a crime as such, this is not what happens. Levi called the world of the extermination camp the “gray zone.” It was a world in which victims of a greater crime turned into perpetrators of many lesser but immediate ones, becoming accomplices in their own degradation.

Ireland’s starvation was, ultimately, the responsibility of Her Majesty’s Government in London. But it took a century and a half for a British prime minister (Tony Blair) to acknowledge the “deep scars” of the famine and say that “those who governed in London at the time failed their people.”

The famine tore apart the social fabric, not just once but month by month over prolonged years, including the aftermath of emigration, dispossession, and silence.

Ireland’s hunger is one of the few cases in history where the victims of famine are commemorated in public memorials

The fog of the gray zone still obscures the nature of the harm in contemporary famine.

The physical pain of starvation is matched by the psychological pain of blaming oneself, and one’s family, for failure. Famine gnaws away at those bonds of affection, respect, and trust.

“Starvation crime” is a new concept. It does not refer to a legal category as such, but draws together a range of crimes under different provisions of international criminal law in order to give them political salience. In this regard it draws inspiration from legal scholar and former diplomat David Scheffer’s coinage of the term “atrocity crimes” to refer to a cluster of particularly atrocious crimes, prohibited under different elements of law, without becoming side-tracked by a fruitless debate over whether such acts constitute “genocide.”

Starvation crimes, perpetrated on a sufficient scale and over a sufficient length of time, can cause a famine. However, we need not wait on a definitive diagnosis of famine to identify a starvation crime. This is important because existing diagnostic criteria for determining famine are contentious or may only be possible after the fact. This is illustrated by current controversies over the metrics used by the IPC scale, especially in Yemen.

The IPC metrics focus on the severity of malnutrition, mortality, and food crisis within a specific geographical locale. It sets a very high bar for declaring “famine,” and uses the words “emergency” and “crisis” for lower levels.

Therefore, in the same way that Scheffer’s concept of “atrocity crimes” allows us to sidestep the problematic question of identifying genocide, so the concept of “starvation crimes” allows us to duck the question of a definitive diagnosis of famine, and indeed the bigger question of whether we need metrics of suffering in order to identify such acts.

Yemen’s famine, for example, isn’t the outcome of any one specific act, but is instead the product of many different actions and policies—many in themselves not intrinsically criminal, such as closing the central bank or bombing bridges—which cumulatively add up to a vast starvation crime. The Crown Princes of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi have deliberately, over an extended period, committed multiple acts that have deprived millions of Yemenis the means necessary to survive. These attacks were mounted again and again, many of them clearly targeting civilian infrastructure, all while the two Crown Princes also oversaw the obstruction and interruption of humanitarian aid.

The fact that the Houthis have stolen, taxed, and diverted food for their own political ends, and, on at least one occasion, also used starvation tactically to military ends (in the siege of Ta’izz) does not detract from the criminality of the Saudi and Emirati campaign.

But the justice agenda ranges wider. Starvation is a material deprivation. Its victims lose their assets and livelihoods as they suffer hunger and their children die. The approximately $1.5 billion that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have contributed to international aid operations in Yemen should be seen less as a mitigating factor and more as a small down payment on the tens of billions of dollars for which they should be liable in reparations.

Despite the obvious logic, however, there are many reasons why material reparations may not be the best approach. We should consider them on a case-by-case basis. In Yemen, the countries that perpetrated starvation are sufficiently wealthy that they should be considered liable for both material compensation for the victims and funding national development in the country that they tried so hard to destroy.

Fundamental to the transitional justice agenda is ensuring the crime is not repeated. The goal here is political accountability.

The ultimate objective isn’t putting a villain in jail, but making the infliction of starvation so morally toxic that it is unthinkable – by Alex de Waal

A highly critical report has found extensive flaws in the British government’s arms sales strategy.

Based on analysis of the Yemen conflict, the study urges a reduction in weapons exports to conflict zones and states involved in human rights abuses.

“Our conclusion is based on copious, authoritative information, and is compelling,” said Roy Isbister of Saferworld, joint authors of the report. “All of the warring parties in Yemen are repeatedly in breach of international law. Yet our voice is ignored by a government that will quote our work as ballast to its own arguments in other countries when it suits.”

The report by Control Arms UK, a coalition of non-governmental organisations, was submitted to the committees on arms export controls (CAEC), the parliamentary watchdog responsible for policing the government’s compliance with domestic and international arms export policies. CAEC has made the report public as part of its inquiry into British arms exports in 2017.

Fundamental changes are urged to save lives and reduce the impact of UK-manufactured weapons. The report reinforces concerns raised by CAEC last year following a review of UK arms sales in 2016, when the body called for greater regulation, transparency and compliance in the government’s decision-making process. The government response then acknowledged improvements were needed but failed to agree that the system fell short.

Taking Yemen as a case study, the report uses statistical analysis to support the case for a suspension of arms to the Saudi coalition, as well as other warzones and countries on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) watchlist for human rights breaches. The authors advocate a joined-up approach to conflict resolution, with improvements to development and peace-building initiatives currently supported by the Department for International Development (DfID) – by Rod Austin

Comments by Judith Brown: My own research demonstrates that the UK media does not give enough publicity to arms sales. For example after the courts ruled arms sales were 'rational' in 2017 the Guardian ceased to report much about arms sales of weapons that may be used in Yemen, although before the ruling they had insisted that even if not illegal, arms sales of weapons to be used in Yemen are immoral. But that immorality claim went by the board after the ruling - even one Guardian report suggested that UK had been 'chided' because of its continued arms sales to Saudi Arabia. This trade is fuelling war and simply needs to stop.

Well there is no doubt that if the dreadful weapons that are destroying Yemen from the air could have their supply disrupted there would be more chance of peace. This would leave the internal factions that have become more entrenched in their positions still to make peace, but without outside interference there would be more chance of compromise. All warring factions in Yemen are 'bad guys' as far as I am concerned, and not many ordinary civilians support the fighting parties per se, but support of the Houthis comes from sections within Yemen who are just against Western and GCC interference, and the potential loss of Yemeni sovereignty if the Houthi side loses the battle, but they do not want Houthi rule, whereas support for the STC and Islah comes from those who fear the return of the past monarchy that ruled Yemen for nearly 1000 years prior to the 1960s. If outside interference stopped these internal fears would remain and those with the most guns would still control Yemen, but there would be more chance of a peaceful and productive life for Yemeni civilians.

The spokesman of the Armed Forces, Brigadier General, Yahya Sare’e, said that the violations of the aggression and its mercenaries since the declaration of the cease-fire amounted to 4621 violations, stressing that what is happening in Hodeidah is not just violations but a serious military escalation, noting that the intelligence confirms the continued aggression in bringing reinforcements to the Mukha for distribution south Hodeidah.

Brig. Sare’e, during a press conference held on Saturday in the capital Sana'a said that the total violations in Hodeidah in January amounted to 3819 violations. He pointed out that the mercenaries fired 222 rockets, 2512 shells and more than 680 violations of machine guns, 22 developments during January, while violations of aggression aerial 106 violations.

Brig. Sare’e confirmed that our forces had demonstrated their full commitment to the ceasefire agreement and that the implementation of the Swedish agreement did not require more observers than the need to compel the enemy to comply fully with the voice of peace.

Crimes of mercenaries aggression against civilians in the city of Drehmi in Hodeidah 31-01-2019

See some of the latest US-Saudi war crimes in Hodeida, Duraihim town. These brutal crimes happened only January 31, 2019, despite the fragile cease-fire, which is really faltering and could collapse any time.

Fierce battles in the city of Hodeidah following attacks by Houthis on government forces positions

The city of Hodeidah, in western Yemen, witnessed fierce battles and a series of explosions on Saturday after renewed fighting between government troops and Houthi militants, a local source and residents said.

According to a military source of Al-Masdar online, the fighting was renewed following an attack by the Houthis on the positions of the government forces East and south of the city, and the fighting in which the parties used heavy artillery and machine guns lasted until the morning hours.

But the fighting did not result in progress on the ground for any party.

He noted that the shooting was concentrated in the 7th of July District and the 50th street, a seam zone between the two sides, since the government troops advanced to the city early November last year.

According to the source, the Arab coalition bombed two containers of Houthis in the south-eastern Al-Halaqa market, which were used by the Houthis as two weapons stores, causing violent explosions in the area.

On the one hand, local residents said the explosions were in the southern and eastern part of the city, causing limited displacement of some families living near the areas where the confrontations took place.

Fighters of the Houthi group launched a heavy shelling against pro-government military sites in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Saturday evening, a military official told Xinhua.

Several government-controlled sites in Hays district of Hodeidah were targeted with mortar and artillery shells, causing injuries among the troops, said the local military official based in the city on condition of anonymity.

He said that more than 10 soldiers were injured as a result of the random Houthi shelling carried out against their military locations and training camps.

The pro-government forces did not respond to the Houthi-fired shells, and informed the United Nations cease-fire monitoring team of the rebels' violations in Hodeidah, he added.

In Hodeidah, a farmer was killed following an artillery shelling of the US-Saudi mercenaries on Kilo-16 in Al-Hali district. US-Saudi mercenaries targeted with artillery shells and machine guns Ad-durayhimi, Kilo-16, At-tohayta and The Airport area. 2 bulldozers of the US-Saudi mercenaries made fortifications in different areas.

On 2 February, in preparation for the third meeting the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), the head of the UN Monitoring Mission in support of the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) and chair of the committee, General Cammaert, boarded a UN vessel in the port of Hodeidah and sailed to pick up the delegation of the Government of Yemen at a rendezvous in the Red Sea. Gen. Cammaert and the delegation returned to an anchor point in the inner port of Hodeidah and will be joined tomorrow by the delegation of the Houthis. The parties will then resume joint discussions on the implementation of the redeployment of forces and the facilitation of humanitarian operations, as agreed in the Stockholm Agreement. The last joint meeting of the RCC concluded on 3rd January. Since then, the RCC Chair and his team have been crossing frontlines to keep the Parties engaged and discussing the implementation of the agreement.

A committee overseeing a ceasefire in Hodeidah will hold its next meeting on a ship off the port city as Yemen’s warring parties cannot agree on a venue, Yemeni and U.N. sources said on Saturday.

A Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), which is chaired by the world body and includes both sides, holds regular meetings to supervise the implementation of the ceasefire.

One of the sources said that the United Nations has hired a ship to be used as the headquarters for the RCC and its meetings. Another source said representatives of the warring parties would be taken to the ship on U.N. helicopters.

The RCC had previously met in Houthi-run territory, but attempts to convene a meeting in areas held by coalition forces failed because the Houthis were unwilling to cross the frontline, sources told Reuters in late January.

Troops have not yet pulled out, missing a Jan. 7 target, and residents and aid workers have told Reuters that barricades, trenches and roadblocks have been reinforced.

As part of the accord, both sides agreed to the deployment of international monitors in Hodeidah.

The next meeting of the RCC is expected next week after the arrival of Danish Major General Michael Anker Lollesgaar who was appointed on Thursday to replace retired General Patrick Cammaert.

Yemen's warring factions began preparations for a fresh escalation of fighting raging over the control of the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, ignoring efforts aimed at cessation of hostilities.

Senior leaders of the Houthi group based in Sanaa vowed to intensify military battles against the Saudi-led coalition and its local allies just in case the implementation of Sweden agreement failed.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi highest revolutionary committee, said in a statement posted in Twitter that capturing the strategic port city of Hodeidah will not be easy for the Saudi-backed government forces.

He added that his group informed the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths that "reopening roads to the Red Sea Mills will be conducted only when circumstances are appropriate and the situation is safe."

These calls for military confrontations renewed just one day following the departure of the UN envoy who conducted a series of meetings with Houthi leader in Sanaa during the past few days.

Officials confirmed to Xinhua that Griffiths did not succeed in convincing the Houthi leaders to withdraw their forces from Hodeidah and implement Sweden's agreement.

"The Houthis refused to hand over the management of Hodeidah's port to the government authorities and strongly opposed entry of forces loyal to Saudi Arabia-led coalition," an official said.

The official said that the Houthi leaders avoided discussing Hodeidah's issue with the UN envoy and started to talk about halting the war against Yemen and other unrelated topics.

Yemeni observers believed that renewing of the armed confrontations between the two warring sides in Hodeidah will probably take place during the upcoming days, as the ground situation indicates start of escalation.

My comment: This is quite biased, citing only anti-Houthi voices. And: This “offi cial” quoted here certainly is a Hadi government official, who certainly had not been present at the talks in Sanaa. Furthermore, "The Houthis refused to hand over the management of Hodeidah's port to the government authorities“ is nonsense. Handing the port to the “government” (here Hadi government) authorities never was part of the Stockholm deal. The Houthis had formed a government by themselves; thus transferring anything to “government” authorities would mean something quite different.

(A K P)

Ansarallah: Breach of truce, Saudis' attempt to wage new war in Yemen

A high-ranking official in Yemen's Ansarallah said continuation of aggressions in Al Hudaydah and breach of truce agreement shows that Saudi coalition is to start a new war in Yemen.

Residents and aid workers in the besieged Yemeni city of Hodeidah fear that growing violence in the city will rupture the fragile ceasefire, despite insistences from the UN that both sides remain committed to negotiating the end of the four-year-old civil war.

Inside Hodeidah itself, several fighters on both sides of the conflict were injured in sustained clashes over the last three days, resident Manal al-Osabi said. Artillery shelling has rocked frontline areas in southern and eastern neighbourhoods where the coalition advance was frozen ahead of peace talks in Sweden in December.

“The ceasefire has collapsed, as far as I see it, but no one has the courage to say that,” she said. “At this point people are dying on a daily basis for the sake of a dead agreement.”

Six weeks into a ceasefire designed to save Hodeidah’s vital port, through which the majority of food, aid and fuel to the country to the famine-stricken country flows, scant progress has been made on the measures agreed in Stockholm.

Houthi fighters have resumed planting landmines and shelling from an undiscovered source last week that caused a fire which damaged two silos at a World Food Programme wheat storage facility. It endangered supplies which are supposed to feed 3.7 million people for a month in a country where 80% of the population is now dependent on aid to survive.

Aid workers say many families in Hodeidah are now sifting through rubbish for food and medical supplies remain in short supply after the city’s only functioning hospital was affected by the fighting before the 13 December ceasefire came into effect.

“The ceasefire is there on paper, but otherwise it’s more or less in [UN special envoy] Martin Griffiths’ head,” said one source close to the peace process.

Civilians in Hodeida, the war-ravaged country's main conduit for food and humanitarian aid, are caught between a bloody ceasefire and the prospect of an even bloodier conflict if the UN-brokered truce breaks down.

"There is no truce," said Ali Hassan Marzouqi.

His daughter Hayat was rushed to a field hospital in the village of Al-Durayhimi, on the southern edge of Hodeida, after a stray bullet grazed her head while she was sitting at home.

"Snipers, improvised explosive devices, mines and mortars," said Iyad Nasser, deputy head of the hospital, rattling off the nature of casualties reported every day since the truce.

Despite the ceasefire, mortar shells continue to crash into camps near Hodeida, which are bursting with ever more displaced Yemenis -- many of them malnourished.

"Before the ceasefire, my house was hit," Mohammed Saleh, 46, said at a camp in the nearby town of Khokha.

"After the ceasefire, my tent was hit. Nothing has changed."

Many at the camp fear returning to their homes and farm lands despite the truce, accusing the rebels of rigging them with mines -- often camouflaged as rocks -- as punishment for fleeing to government areas.

- Spiral of conflict -

AFP travelled to Hodeida last week on a military embed organised by the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition fighting the rebels.

Hospitals around the city have noted a reduction in fatalities since the truce took effect, local fishermen have felt safer going out to sea and aid workers have managed to reach starving communities previously cut off by war.

But the ongoing bloodshed has fuelled a bleak view shared by dozens of civilians and military officials interviewed by AFP -- that the ceasefire is likely to collapse, pushing Hodeida into a deeper spiral of conflict that could precipitate famine – by Anuj Chopra, AFP

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition has shared its concerns on Iran-backed Houthi violations and their impact on the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement.

In the letter, delivered to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday, the Arab Coalition expressed its alarm over the persistent and deliberate violations of the agreement by the Houthi militias.

Commenting on the meeting, Dr. Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said, "We have a distinct opportunity to address the Yemen crisis."

"The UN role is critical," he continued, adding that the Arab Coalition members will continue to support the UN and its work.

"We must make Stockholm work," Gargash stressed.

Since the Agreement, the Iran-backed militias have committed 1,038 violations, reinforcing their military positions among civilian populations. Attacks targeting civilian populated areas have killed a total of 74 individuals, and wounding 563 others.

The Houthis have also failed to withdraw from the ports as agreed in Stockholm.

Government forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdou Megally said the Houthis violated the ceasefire agreement, which entered into force on December 18th in the city and province of Hodeidah, 760 times.

Brig. Gen. Megally said at a press conference held Thursday in Marib province that the government forces were committed to a ceasefire.

He said that the Houthis ' violations of the agreement extended to residential neighborhoods in Hodeidah Governorate, including indiscriminate firing of shells and shelling of hospitals and schools, including Khawla school in Hees District.

"The militias not only bombed schools and hospitals but bombed the homes of citizens in the city of Hees and Tahita and also targeted grain mills in the Red Sea, which feeds about 3 million Yemenis," he added.

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition has shared its concerns on Iran-backed Houthi violations and their impact on the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement. In the letter, delivered to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday, the Arab Coalition expressed its alarm over the persistent and deliberate violations of the agreement by the Houthi militias. Commenting on the meeting, Dr. Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said, "We have a distinct opportunity to address the Yemen crisis." "The UN role is critical," he continued, adding that the Arab Coalition members will continue to support the UN and its work. "We must make Stockholm work," Gargash stressed. Since the Agreement, the Iran-backed militias have committed 1,038 violations, reinforcing their military positions among civilian populations. Attacks targeting civilian populated areas have killed a total of 74 individuals, and wounding 563 others.

United Nations: Yemen’s government and its allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates asked the UN Security Council on Thursday to turn up the pressure on Al Houthi rebels to uphold a ceasefire deal.

In a letter sent to the council, the three governments accused the Al Houthis of violating the ceasefire in the port city of Hodeida 970 times since it came into force on December 18.

They asked the council to “impress upon the Al Houthis, and their Iranian backers, that they will be held responsible if their continued failure to comply... leads to the collapse of the Stockholm agreement,” said the letter seen by AFP.

The head of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi, said that UN Envoy, Martin Griffith, was informed that the road to the Red Sea Mills will be open when circumstances allows and safe, he again called on the Envoy to commit the other party to a ceasefire.

"We told the envoy that we are opening the way to the mills when conditions allow and safe," the head of the Revolutionary Party, said in a tweet on Twitter. "We call on Griffiths again to commit the other side to abide by the ceasefire and not to obstruct the implementation of the Swedish agreement so that the committees can implement the agreement and redeploy without hindrances and quickly according to the agreed and chronic mechanism", he added.

Jan. 31: The US-Saudi Aggression continues, on Thursday, to violate Stockholm Cease-Fire agreement in Hodeidah, killing and injuring a number of civilians. US-Saudi mercenaries targeted with artillery shells a civilian's house in Al-Hali district, injuring two children. US-Saudi artillery shells also targeted At-tohayta district, injuring three civilians, including two children. US-Saudi mercenaries targeted with machine guns Ad-durayhimi and several areas.

Unprecedented Escalation of Violations by Aggression and Its Mercenaries in Hodeidah

Our correspondent in Hodeidah said that since yesterday (Jan. 31) night the mercenaries launched intensive bombardment targeting the University of Hodeidah and the Airport in an escalation that we have not seen since the signing of the Swedish agreement.

He added that the aggression's artillery continued to bombard the houses of citizens on July-7 and targeting the resort of Hodeidah. Flying jets intensified in the skies of the province in general and on the ports of Hodeidah and Salif especially.

Our correspondent in Hodeidah confirmed that the Ceasefire Monitoring Team is not present and is waiting for the arrival of the new team.

Danish Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, who is replacing former Dutch Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert as chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), is expected in the Jordanian capital on Sunday along with 20 UN observers as part of an operation monitoring a ceasefire in Yemen’s key port of Hodeidah, diplomatic sources revealed Thursday. British Ambassador to Yemen Michael Aron told Asharq Al-Awsat the new chair of the RCC and his UN team are waiting for Houthi militias to issue for them a special permit before traveling to Sanaa.

The Ambassador said his country looks forward to a concrete progress and the completion of withdrawal from Hodeidah’s ports. “As we know, Patrick and (UN envoy to Yemen) Martin Griffiths had presented a new plan on Hodeidah to the Houthis and President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and the two sides accepted it. We are waiting for the implementation of this plan and for a meeting of the Committee in Hodeidah,” Aron explained.

Proselytizing Muslims is illegal and conversion from Islam to another religion is apostasy, a capital offense. Those charged with apostasy face the death penalty.

One ministry CP reached out to declined to comment on the situation of Christians in the country, noting that it is too sensitive to discuss.

Open Doors USA, a persecution watchdog group, reports that the persecution Christians face in Yemen is "extreme."

"They face persecution from the authorities (including detention and interrogation), their families and radical Islamic groups who threaten converts with death if they do not re-convert," it notes.

"Tribal law prohibits members from leaving the tribe; the punishment for denouncing Islam can be death or banishment. Both male and female converts to Christianity married to Muslims risk divorce, including losing custody of their children. Christians are suffering from the general humanitarian crisis in the country. But Yemeni Christians are additionally vulnerable since emergency relief is mostly distributed through Islamic organizations and local mosques. These groups allegedly discriminate against all who are not considered to be pious Muslims."

The port city of Aden, the temporary capital of Yemen, has only four church buildings still standing, three Roman Catholic and one Anglican — Christ Church Aden.

Schwartz, who for eight years served as a priest in Saudi Arabia, maintained that Christians do not face overt persecution by the government but he explained to CP that “everything about their (Yemen’s) society is Islamic.”

In the first month of the year 2019 only.. The Houthis killed 60 civilians, details and statistics of their crimes

The Houthis killed 60 civilians and injured more than 100, most of them women and children in just one month, including five soldiers who tried to rescue a family where injured by a Houthi mine explosion; and a second mine exploded.

The statistic prepared by the "Al-Masdar online " includes four deaths in Houthi prisons believed to be the result of torture or other medical conditions and the death of a prisoner who was discharged from Houthi prison with a deteriorating health condition.

Of the dead, 18 were children, 14 were women, 5 died in or out of prison, and there were numerous ways of killing, shelling, sniping, direct shooting and other cases of torture.

The most prominent of the provinces that were attacked by the Houthi murders, Taiz, Al-Hodeidah and Hajjah.

The following are the details and statistics of the Houthi crimes in January 2019.

This is Crisis Group’s second weekly update published as part of our Yemen Campaign. Prefaced with a new introductory trendline – this week, fear of famine – it provides up-to-the minute insights into the four-year-old civil war and the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.

The Present Context

For more than six months the primary focus for diplomats, policymakers and analysts working on Yemen has been the now-frozen offensive on the Red Sea port city of Hodeida. (You can read our analysis of why Hodeida is important here, and what was in the agreement here. The UN, which brokered the deal, has since struggled to turn the agreement into a reality. You can learn more about the barriers to implementation here). Even if the Stockholm Agreement can be made to stick, fighting is likely to continue in other frontline areas while tensions also remain high among ostensibly allied pro-government Yemeni groups across the south and in Taiz city.

Trendline: Fear of Famine

A deal brokered by the UN in December between the government of Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Ansar Allah, better known as the Huthis, was agreed largely on humanitarian grounds. The Stockholm Agreement was a success in that it prevented a battle for the Red Sea port and city of Hodeida that would likely have sparked a major famine. But six weeks on, the ceasefire agreed in Sweden is still on shaky ground and aid agencies are warning that unless they can access a wheat storage and milling plant on the outskirts of Hodeida they will struggle to ward off mass starvation.

In Yemen, the ceasefire proposed before Christmas, which was fragile at the best of times, is now all but gone. Fighting is a daily event in and around the port of Hodeidah, almost the sole entry point for the mass import of aid on which more than two-thirds of the population depend.

So the war goes on. Incompetent combatants will continue to slug it out as Yemen collapses and more people starve.

My friend and colleague Lyse Doucet, a veteran with the BBC of reporting from bad places for more than 30 years, seemed almost broken by hopelessness in her latest accounts of the children and families who are now dying of starvation in Yemen.

The chaos zones proliferate from Africa to Asia and Latin America. Each chaos crisis has its own elements, or particular combination of elements, but most result in a drive to move and migrate. Those that can get out, will. For them it is a life-urge — the determination to survive.

We need a radically new approach to the new geographic chaos spectrum. And action; global alliances for global breakdown.

My comment: Totally omitted: The fact that a lot of chaos zones had been created or aggravated by Western intervention.

(B)

Iceland is deemed the safest country in the world, with Europe dominating the top 20 places... while the US is only 65th due to its high homicide rate

Yemen, which is a violent famine-ridden war zone, placed second-bottom on the list, with the Philippines found to be the most dangerous place to live.

Although Yemen is an active war zone, and people face a greater military and security risk, the magazine deemed the risk from natural disasters in the Philippines to be so grave it takes its score higher.

Moncef Marzouki tells TRT World that the Saudi and UAE governments coordinated with Israel to counter the uprisings that swept the region eight years ago.

The former Tunisian president, Moncef Marzouki, has accused Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel of “creating chaos” in a number of Arab countries as part of their effort to counter the 2011 revolutions.

Marzouki, who led an interim government from 2011 to 2014, told TRT Worldthat both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi coordinated efforts with Tel Aviv “to destroy everything related to the Arab revolutions”.

“This Israeli-Emirati-Saudi coordination [...] was successful to an extent in creating chaos in Yemen; chaos in Libya; chaos in Syria; and the coup in Egypt. And in Tunisia, through corrupt money and corrupt media.

“And [they] were able to get rid of me because I was a symbol of this revolution or the first president to come to power through this revolution,” he told TRT World.

In February 2011, the wave of protests reached Bahrain, a small Gulf kingdom neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The protests, mostly led by the country’s Shia opposition - Bahrain’s majority Muslim sect - attempted to emulate demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt against the kingdom’s Sunni ruling family.

As a response, a military force mostly comprised of Saudi and UAE troopsentered Bahrain a month later to quell the protests, in an effort backed by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - a regional alliance made up of six Arab Gulf monarchies.

“It’s all connected,” said Marzouki. “It’s a battle between an old system wanting to maintain its authority … and nations wanting to restore their dignity, freedom and independence.”

Marzouki doesn't believe that the UAE constructs its foreign policy in the Arab region independently, but rather has “orders” from what he referred to as “their masters” in Israel and the West.

After nearly four years of civil war between Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition determined to restore to power the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, every month seems to bring some shocking new measure of civilian misery. Yemen now has the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the worst cholera outbreak in recorded history, and among the highest rates of child malnutrition. An estimated 16 million people, more than half the country’s population, are threatened by starvation. During two weeks of reporting in September, I saw suffering on a scale I have rarely seen anywhere.

It is not yet clear how much pressure the Saudis are feeling, but there are signs that they may be willing to settle for less than total victory over the Houthis. Huge obstacles to peace remain (subscribers only)

Since agreed on last December, ceasefire existed in name only. Fighting never stopped. It just ebbed around the key port city of Hodeidah before escalating, where things stand now.

Yemen is Washington's war, the Trump regime bearing most responsibility for what's going on, wanting endless war, not resolution - if otherwise nearly two decades of war would end.

The Saudis and UAE share responsibility for partnering with US aggression. There's nothing civil about war in the country, not in any countries Washington attacked.

Peace talks in Sweden last December achieved no breakthroughs, war raging without letup while going on.

The so-called agreement reached between warring parties wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Saudi/UAE terror-bombing continued in parts of the country - with full US support, encouragement, and weapons supplied.

The official UN death toll greatly understates the casualty count, mitigating one of the world's greatest human calamities, courtesy of US imperial designs on the country and region.

Under Republicans and Dems, Washington is responsible for killing a nation and its defenseless people, victims of its imperial viciousness – by Stephen Lendman

My comment: For any peaceful solution, very pessimistic; let’s hope he’s wrong. The US role is described correctly.

cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade

(B H K P)

Dying in Yemen, at 28, because of an imposed inhumane siege

if you do not perish under an airstrike, lack of medicines finishes the job. A neighbour of ours, just 28, had hepatitis. His days were spent going from one hospital to another looking for medications and assistance. He was in terrible pain. Not one hospital was able to assist him: there were no medicines due to the siege. He, hence, decided to travel to Jordan, his only hope. But hopes are easily shattered in Yemen: the sky has been blocked by the Saudi led coalition and few airplanes manage to land or take off. The other morning screams woke us up. Our neighbour’s mother was screaming her desperation to the wind. Her son of 28, our neighbour, had passed away. In pain, alone, abandoned by the world. It’s not hepatitis which killed him. It’s the world’s silence on an incomprehensible war on Yemen.

This is Mohammed Al Kayal, father of three in his 30s from #Amran, #Yemen. His passport was not enough to get him out of Yemen for brain cancer treatment. Sanaa airport -- the closest one about one hour away -- is closed down and largely destroyed by the Saudi-led coalition. He died yesterday. He was too frail to travel between 15 hours and 4 days to Sayyoun or Aden airports, where he'd be humiliated at the dozens of checkpoints, held up and possibly not allowed to leave anyway. I met his distraught mother whose only wish now is to see the airport reopened so that people like him in need of urgent medical attention can survive. "We ask nothing of the world but to put pressure to reopen our airport so that other people can live," she told me. (photo)

Following four years of conflict, the people of Yemen are crying out for help and for peace. More than 14 million people are facing starvation, and an estimated 85,000 children have already died from extreme hunger. This is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, and it must stop.

Ahmed worked as a farmer to support his 13 children, but then war came to his village. ‘The shelling and the airstrikes forced us to flee….’ says Ahmed. ‘There were only two choices: either to stay under [the] battles...or to flee’.

He and his family now live in tents in a graveyard – one of many makeshift camps for internally displaced people. Ahmed and his wife are doing all they can to care for their children amid the horror of this war. They risk gunfire to collect firewood and walk two hours for water, but food is scarce.

In the short term, people in Yemen need urgent help to survive. In the long term, they need peace. Please pray for them, for Tearfund’s partner staff working to reach those in most need, and for increased action from those in power to see Yemen at peace.

Photo: I asked the little girl "why you're sitting here?, she said "I'm waiting my father to come back from work and bring me food. This photo taken in a rural area in Yemen while the your abilities org distributing food baskets

Starving civilians caught up in the Yemen conflict are so desperate for food that they are scavenging for scraps in landfills, according to a local doctor.

Local doctor Ashwaq Moharram has described desperate scenes in the city.

“We have people scrabbling through garbage tips to eat,” she told The Independent. “They can’t even look for food in their neighbours’ waste, as all of them are poor and have no supplies.”

The violence has also made it impossible for civilians in the most contested areas to access medical aid.

“In one area along the coast, an entire family was injured in a strike and all of them died. Imagine a whole family bleeding to death,” said Moharram, who runs a mobile medical clinic serving remote areas in the region.

Film by Houthi-affiliated Bonyan foundation (in Arabic): Abdel Halim Elnzele - The story of a volunteer

In light of the fact that the homeland is in dire need of unity and unity of efforts, and out of loyalty and loyalty and love of charity, volunteers start with a spirit of lofty believers in the impact of everything they do. Know the story of one of these benefactors.

The war will shortly enter its fourth year. It is a grim milestone for Yemenis, who face the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.

Yemen was already the poorest country in the Middle East when the conflict broke out in March 2015. A heart-breaking 85,000 children are estimated to have since died from extreme hunger, and over 14 million people are thought to be facing starvation.

Millions have fled their homes. Families are setting up makeshift homes wherever they can find available land – in the desert, in abandoned buildings, and on garbage dumps where they can forage for scraps.

Islamic Relief, which has worked in Yemen for more than 20 years, has throughout the conflict provided a lifeline to vulnerable people – including those in blockaded areas.

This document provides an overview of the logistics services made available through the Logistics Cluster, how humanitarian actors responding to the crisis in the Republic of Yemen may access these services, and the conditions under which these services are to be provided.

Due to the limited options for accommodation in the city of Hodeidah, the Logistics Cluster is facilitating access to an accommodation service on the WFP-chartered vessel VOS Theia, which also serves for emergency rescue and evacuation

Aid groups warn of lost generation as 500,000 Yemeni children flee fighting

Fighting in Yemen has forced more than half a million children from their homes in the past six months alone, aid groups said on Thursday, warning of a lost generation of young people.

Most fled during a major military offensive on the key port of Hodeidah in July and August and all now face a “bleak” future, with no access to education and an increased risk of disease and hunger, the U.N. children’s agency said.

“We are losing a generation - many children are losing on their education, and displacement makes it worse,” Meritxell Relano, Yemen director for UNICEF told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from the capital Sanaa.

“Without education they will not be able to find jobs ... a generation that is not educated has a very bleak future.”

About 2 million children in Yemen are now out of school after a nearly four-year-long war that has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed the country to the verge of starvation, according to the United Nations.

The charity Save the Children said that despite a lull in fighting, thousands of families were still streaming out of Hodeidah fearing renewed conflict and many were struggling to afford basic items like food, fuel and medicine.

“Children forced to flee their homes often have to live in unsanitary and cramped conditions in camps or host communities with little access to clean drinking water or nutritious food,” said spokesman Bhanu Bhatnagar.

Children are at risk of malnutrition, diarrhea, cholera, and diphtheria - a disease that spreads as easily as the common cold. Bhatnagar said 89 percent of Yemenis whose deaths were linked to diphtheria were children under 14.

While ongoing humanitarian assistance is likely preventing millions more people from experiencing worse levels of food insecurity, famine remains a credible threat in Yemen in 2019. Prolonged disruption of operations at the country’s critical ports would likely result in Famine (IPC 5) conditions, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). Additionally, the UN reports further deterioration of macroeconomic conditions could push millions of additional Yemenis into food insecurity.

Yemen is facing one of the world’s worst Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) crises, as deteriorating WASH infrastructure contributes to a cholera outbreak, and represents one of the underlying causes of malnutrition in the country.

On behalf of the Yemen WASH Cluster, REACH coordinated a household-level assessment to provide an understanding of WASH needs, gaps, and priorities in 38 districts prioritized for famine and/or cholera interventions that also host a high concentration of Internally Displaced People (IDPs - 8% or more of the total district population).

UN High Commissioner for Refugees: East, Horn of Africa and Yemen - Displacement of Somalis: Refugees, asylum-seekers and IDPs, showing host countries with more than 1,000 Somalis | as of 01 January 2019

Basma (who can't reveal her photos for her safety) is a 24 year old woman from Yemen who is passionate about working with human rights organizations, and is a defender and advocate for marginalized minorities and women. Being a black woman, Basma faced a lot of racism and marginalization in Yemen. She is always discriminated against because of the color of her skin. Basma is also an ex-Muslim. Like many ex-Muslims, her story is not uncommon and can be claimed as one sector of the non-religious population subjected to horrendous abuse and disownment by family and community, simply for exercising their fundamental human rights to freedom of belief and freedom of religion. And so, for fear of prosecution and abuse, Basma kept her beliefs a secret. But still, she was very outspoken about the situation of women in Yemen and was calling for a secular state. Because of this she was called an “infidel” by her professors at her university and by her own father who threatened to turn her to authorities. As an ex-muslim and a black woman, life was getting too dangerous and hopeless for Basma in Yemen; a country where leaving islam is punishable by death. In addition to hearing daily insults because of her skin color, there was a growing risk that her father or someone else might harm her or report her to authorities and Islamic groups. At this point, Basma couldn’t live in this constant fear and decided to make the hardest decision she’s ever had to make. Escape. BASMA’S SITUATION IN TURKEY As Basma struggled to find a way out of Yemen, so she can be safe and live her life freely like any other women her age, she came across an opportunity to go to Turkey illegally. As a result, she was detained and jailed for 4 months at a deportation center. At the detention center, Basma declared a hunger strike that continued for 7 days. Her hunger strike proved to be useless after the manager of the deportation center told her that he does not care if she dies of hunger. He threatened her that if she does not go back to Yemen voluntarily, she would be removed by force. With a help of a friend in Istanbul, Basma managed to get a lawyer pro-bono. The lawyer helped her get out of the detention center and she was told that she had 15 days to go to any immigration office and apply for residency. Unfortunately for Basma, she has been rejected so many times for residency in Turkey.

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

(* A P)

Al-Houthi group provides the court with a list of about 1,200 supporters of legitimate and demands the seizure and confiscation of their property

Two sources, one of them at the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana'a and the other citizen, said that the al-Houthi group had prepared a list of some 1,200 names of its opponents, with the aim of obtaining rulings to confiscate their homes and properties, in preparation for their acquisition.

In telephone conversations with Al-Masdar online correspondent, they said that among the targeted leaders in the country and the national Army, and party and popular leaders, loyal to the legitimate government.

According to the source in the court, who asked not to be named for security reasons, the files were submitted to the specialized criminal prosecution, and the prosecution provided them to the Specialized Criminal Court for the consideration of the first batch of names, who have now processed their files.

He reported that there were 80 individuals named in the states who filed complaints with the court. they are awaiting consideration.Two sources, one of them at the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana'a and the other citizen, said that the al-Houthi group had prepared a list of some 1,200 names of its opponents, with the aim of obtaining rulings to confiscate their homes and properties, in preparation for their acquisition.

In telephone conversations with Al-Masdar online correspondent, they said that among the targeted leaders in the country and the national Army, and party and popular leaders, loyal to the legitimate government.

According to the source in the court, who asked not to be named for security reasons, the files were submitted to the specialized criminal prosecution, and the prosecution provided them to the Specialized Criminal Court for the consideration of the first batch of names, who have now processed their files.

He reported that there were 80 individuals named in the states who filed complaints with the court. they are awaiting consideration.

Prime Minister Dr. Abdulaziz bin Habtoor on Saturday discussed with Minister of Tourism Nasser Baqazqoz the underway preparations for Sanaa touristy festival in coordination with the local authority of the capital Sanaa.

The head of the revolutionary committee in Sana'a, Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi, reiterated the determination of a comprehensive, just and serious peace that begins with stopping the aggression, lifting the siege and having a national dialogue leading release of all detainees and reconstruction. Stressing at the same time that the alternative to peace and implementing Stockholm agreement will be the hell to the coalition forces and their mercenaries.

On the other hand, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi addressed the aggression countries, Hadi and his government and mercenaries, in another Tweet, which he put two options for them to choose after the escalation in Hodeidah saying, "invading Hodeidah is not easy, either you accept peace and implement Stockholm agreement or the hell is waiting for the invaders and mercenaries".

The "Association of Mothers of the abductees" said Saturday that the Houthi gunmen kidnapped activist, Awfa al-Nuami and her colleague Hasan al-Qotari, who work for the international organization Safer world, on Monday, from the capital Sana'a.

The Association, a non-governmental organization established by the mothers of the abductees in the Houthis ' prisons, said in a statement that the Houthis took Nuami and her colleague to an unknown area.

#FreeAwfa On Monday (January 28) woman human rights defender Awfa AlNaami was arbitrarily and forcefully disappeared and detained in Sanaa, Yemen. AlNaami and her colleague were asked for a meeting by the Houthi national security to discuss her work with SaferWorld, an INGO working on peace building and women empowerment. Awfa and her colleague went into the building at 12 noon on Monday and they haven’t been released since then. The Regional Coalition of Women Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa is gravely concerned by this unjustifiable action and calls for Awfa AlNaami’s immediate and unconditional release.

The Presidency of the Parliament held a meeting on Saturday chaired by speaker of Parliament, Chairman of the Presidency of Parliament, Yahya al-ra'i. The meeting approved the agenda of the parliament for the first period of first half-year for the fourteenth annual session.

SCER approves holding elections to fill vacant seats in the House of Representatives

The Supreme Committee for Elections and Referendum (SCER) on Thursday has approved that its sectors and its Secretariat should take the necessary steps to hold elections to fill vacant seats in the House of Representatives in accordance with the law. The Committee discussed at its extraordinary meeting chaired by Judge Mohammed Abdullah Al-Salmi, Chairman of the Committee, the letter of the House of Representatives No. 8 dated Jan. 29, 2019, which includes the Houses request to hold elections to fill vacant seats in the House.

My comment: This hardly will match with the constitution. – The Sanaa parliament no more is reaching the quorum which is required by constitutional rules, as can be concluded.

And

(A P)

Parliament informs Elections committee about vacant constituencies to held elections

The message referred to the vacancy of the parliamentary seats of the constituency 91, Ibb province, 260, Hajjah province, 188 and 193, Hodeidah provinces, 146 and 147, Hadramout, as well as 277 , Marib. The parliament called on the committee to take the necessary procedures to hold elections to fill the vacant seats, in accordance with Article 78 of the Constitution and Article 198 of the parliament’s bylaws according to requires of the national interest.

TA issues statement on decision of preventive detention against company SabaFon

The Tax Authority (TA) on Thursday issued a statement on the decision of preventive detention issued by the Court of First Instance against the Yemeni Mobile Phone Company Sabafon.

In a statement obtained by Saba, the Authority said that the Department did not take this action on its own initiative but resorted to the judiciary in respect of the rule of law and its implementation. It also respected the directive of the judiciary before discontinuing the implementation of judicial rulings Years on the basis of the Supreme Court's decision although the provisions were finally.

The statement pointed out that the Yemeni mobile phone company (Sabafon), one of the tax authorities - like the rest of the taxpayers - obliged to perform or tax deduction to supply those taxes to the tax administration, in accordance with the provisions of the laws into force.

Government announces soon opening of Al-Rayyan airport and promises to create new port in Mukalla

The Yemeni government on Thursday announced the resumption of air traffic at Al-Rayyan airport in Al-Mukalla, the eastern province of Hadramawt, days after the residents of Hadramawt asked the coast authorities to reopen the airport for flights.

Minister of Transport Saleh Algbwani said that the ministry is moving to make al-Rayyan International Airport a central airport, due to its distinctive location and proximity to international air traffic lines, and pledged to provide all the necessary equipment to restart it.

In the context, Algbwani inspected the port city, and said in a meeting with its staff that the current port would be developed to accommodate the largest number of especially large ships, creating a new port in Broome or al-Dhabbah.

Remark: These Hadi-government affiliated organizations never care for Saudi coalition air raids.

(B P)

During his recent visit to #US, the so-called legitimate president spent 2 million$ while 400,000 #Yemen-i workers suffer from their salaries cut 3 years ago due to the transfer of the central bank to the occupied city of Aden, with the complicity of #US. with Saudi/UAE regimes (document)

In a Plea to UNESCO, Southern Protesters Demand Immediate Stopping of Obliterating Southern Monuments and Protecting Historic Sites in Aden

Southern activists protested in Aden in front of “Tourists Platform”, a famous monument in Al-Tawahi, against tries to obliterate the southern identity. Protesters are against redesigning several monuments destroyed during 2015 war in a manner against its authentic identity. They carried banners holding slogans like “Our Monuments and History are Being Obliterated”, “Our Resources Are Being Robbed” and “UNESCO… Save Our Monuments from Authorities Disruption and Violation of Laws Protecting Monuments”.

The Govt of #Yemen urges the Honorable @RoKhanna and other members of Congress to reconsider their stance calling for the withdrawal of #US support Arab Coalition, and to consider the negative effect this would have on shared security interests in the US and Middle East.

Shame on a Government that supports the daily killing of the people it is supposed to protect. Shame on a Government that supports starving millions of the people they presumably represent #Yemen will never forget.

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

(A P)

President of the Security Council calls on parties to the conflict in Yemen to "respect" the Stockholm Agreement

The President of the UN Security Council on Friday evening called on the Yemeni government, Arab coalition forces and the al-Houthi group to "respect" the United Nations-sponsored Stockholm agreement held in Sweden (6-13 December)

In meetings with senior United Nations (UN) officials and non-governmental organisations this week, Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, reiterated UAE commitment to achieving a political solution to the conflict in Yemen, while expressing serious concerns about the continued obstruction of peace efforts in Yemen by the Iranian-backed Houthis.

A spokesman for Jordan's Foreign Ministry says the country will host a round of U.N.-backed talks between the internationally recognized government of Yemen and the Shiite Houthi rebels, about a prisoner swap deal next week.

Sufian Al-Qudah said Saturday that Jordan agreed to host the Yemenis at the U.N.'s request.

National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs: High-Ranking Saudi Officers Among Prisoners

The head of the National Committee for Prisoners' Affairs, Abdul Qader Al-Murtadha, said that there were high-ranking Saudi officers among the prisoners in the hands of the Army and the Popular Committees, stressing in statements to the official newspaper, Al-Thawra, on Saturday, that the committee will reveal all details concerning Saudi and Emirati prisoners at the right time and place.

Al-Murtadha said that the UAE has not yet reacted to the prisoners' agreement and we await the next round to determine its readiness to interact. He stressed that the differences between the UAE and its mercenaries do not concern us

National Committee of Prisoners Affairs Reveals New Round to Discuss Prisoners Swap

The head of the National Committee of Prisoners Affairs, Abdulqader Al-Mortadha, said, on Thursday, that the new round to discuss the prisoner swap will be held on February 5 in Amman or Geneva. Al-Murtadha expressed his hope that the new round of consultations, sponsored by the UN, would be ready for the release of more than 6,000 prisoners and detainees.

"If they attend this round without any true authority to make decisions, as it happened in the last round, we will not be able to achieve anything other than recordings and commemorative photographs," he said.

In humanitarian gesture, Sayyed Abdulmalik, has ordered, the release of the Saudi prisoner whose health deteriorated due to a chronic disease.

According to Stockholm agreement, the two sides agreed to exchange all prisoners of war. The National Delegation has expressed its readiness to release all prisoners and detainees of the US-Saudi aggression forces, on the condition of releasing all the detainees of the Army and Popular Committees; including citizens in South Yemen who are detained by the UAE and subject to daily torture. Later on, the UAE and its mercenaries objected to the agreement and refused to deal with it while Saudi Arabia procrastinates and hides hundreds of prisoners in its prisons despite their recognition of them previously. On January 7th, the member of the National Delegation, the head of the National Committee for Prisoners' Affairs, Abdulqader Al-Mortadha, called on the United Nations to pressure the obstructionist party to the prisoners exchange agreement and to announce this to the public opinion. Al-Murtadha said that the forces of aggression are working to deny the existence of hundreds of prisoners who we know their prison places and refuses to disclose the hidden prisoners of prisoners and detainees.

As the United Nations is not taking any strong position against what is happening in Yemen and in the absence of seriousness shown by the party of coalition to improve the chances on prisoners' situation, the everyone in the Yemeni People is a prisoner of the US-Saudi aggression. We have to mention that according to reports, over 10,000 patients, who were prevented from travelling abroad for treatment. About 75,000 patients are estimated to be in need of seeking treatment abroad each year. Riyadh and its allies target Yemeni civilians and, at the same time, prevent those injured from leaving the country to receive treatment. Sana'a International Airport has announced that the Saudi embargo has left 100,000 Yemenis stranded abroad, while blocking the exit of 300,000 others, including patients.

Top envoy to Yemen praises ‘flexibility’ of chief negotiators as new UN mission chief is named

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen said on Thursday that the main negotiators for the warring sides were continuing to show the “necessary flexibility and good faith” to move forward, despite delays in implementing the agreement marking the first steps towards a lasting peace deal, brokered in Sweden last December.

Martin Griffiths, has been talking with the Houthi rebel leadership in the capital Sana’a “to discuss the rapid and effective implementation of the Stockholm Agreement” the UN said in a briefing note to correspondents based in New York.

He also discussed the deployment of UN staff in support of cementing the fragile ceasefire, and withdrawal of Houthi and pro-Government coalition forces in and around the crucial port city of Hudaydah.

“The Special Envoy is encouraged by the responsiveness demonstrated by the leadership of Ansar Aallah (the official name of the Houthi movement) in that regard. The Special Envoy also discussed the resumption of political consultations, stressing the importance of achieving substantial progress in implementing the Stockholm Agreement, as we move towards convening the next round of consultations.”

During his visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh this week, Mr. Griffiths said he had gained assurances from Yemeni President Adrabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Saudi-led coalition of their continued commitment to respect and fully implement the agreement.

The envoy said leaders of both parties had “demonstrated the necessary flexibility and good faith regarding the timelines for implementation and the technical challenges that need to be resolved on the ground.

The parties also recognize the political and humanitarian importance of the full implementation of the Stockholm agreement. The Special Envoy reiterated the commitment of the United Nations to continue working with the parties to overcome any challenges in this regard.”

The UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths left Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Thursday after a four-day visit to end a disagreement over the implementation of a peace deal reached in Stockholm in December last year.

"Deeply concerned about recent hostilities in Yemen, the special envoy calls on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and de-escalate tensions," Griffiths said on Twitter after departing Sanaa.

"What we need now is speedy redeployments according to an RCC (redeployment coordination committee) plan," he added.

Like the majority of the people in Yemen, I want the war that has gripped my country to end.

The Southern Transitional Council (STC), which I represent in the European Union, seeks a solution to the war to be through negotiations. As we've seen over the last four years, the military track only further compounds suffering for our people.

The focus is now on the implementation of the commitments made in Stockholm. But how the political process evolves - and broadens - is critical to the outcome of future talks and how those outcomes are sustained in a manner acceptable to all people across Yemen, including those in the South.

Lack of inclusion of the South is the greatest gap in - and risk to - the peace talks. The notion of a civil war between two sides - the Hadi government and the Houthis - is too simplistic and unreflective of the facts on the ground.

The people of the South have for a long time been marginalised by the authorities in Sanaa. Previous attempts at independence by the South were undermined from the start.

Without genuine inclusion and participation of all key legitimate actors, it is inconceivable that our constituency would accept the terms of a settlement that excludes them – by Ahmed bin Fareed

FM to British Ambassador: Yemeni People Will not Accept Any Presence of Foreign Forces

An official source at the Foreign Ministry condemned the statement made by British Ambassador to Yemen, Michael Aron, during an interview with Al-Jazeera channel, in which he explained that "the decision demanding the departure of the aggression forces belongs, only, to the Yemeni people and the Yemeni government." The source pointed out that the British ambassador forgot that the most important reasons for the continuation of military operations against the forces of aggression is based on the rejection of the Yemeni People and the Army and Popular Committees for any foreign presence on its territory.

He stressed that preserving national sovereignty is a political and popular demand of Yemen.

My comment: By the Houthi government’s FM. “belongs, only, to the Yemeni people and the Yemeni government." Refers to the Hothi government at Sanaa. – The ambassador’s statement indeed is propaganda bullshit (showing again thet Britain is a warring party in the Yemen war), as the Stockholm agreement clearly demands BOTH sides must retreat their fighters from Hodeidah city.

General Dynamics thrusts into public a long-held criticism of the kingdom, the biggest U.S. arms buyer, with the issue becoming a bilateral irritant

Saudi Arabia has failed to pay more than $1 billion it owes for military trucks built by defense industry giant General Dynamics Corp., the company and Canadian officials said, thrusting into public a complaint Western firms have quietly made for years: that the kingdom is slow to pay its debts.

In a sign of how serious and widespread complaints of late payments have become, the U.S. State Department raised the issue with Saudi officials late last year, said a person familiar with the outreach. Other firms complaining privately (subscribers only)

SAUDI ARABIA ALMOST LOST ABOUT TWO-THIRDS OF ITS GENERAL RESERVES IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS

Saudi Arabia has lost about $ 36.7 billion of its cash assets since June 2017, continuing its sharp decline, which began unabated four years ago.

Official data released by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, SAMA, showed that the Kingdom lost about 21.9% of its general reserves after reaching $ 130.5 billion at the end of 2018 compared to $ 167.3 billion at the end of June 2017.

According to the data, Saudi Arabia has almost lost about two-thirds of its general reserves in the last four years, after the loss rate was 63% at the end of last year, given the value of reserves recorded at the end of 2014, amounting to 353.5 billion dollars.

My comment: The estimated sum saudi Arabia had spent for leading the Yemen war is US$ 280 billion so far (6 billion per month).

(* B P)

Five Saudi Students Accused of Rape, Murder, Hit and Runs, Have Fled Oregon Before Trial

On five occasions, privileged young Saudi men studying in the state of Oregon have been spirited out of the country on fake passports and private planes before their trials.

New legislation introduced by Oregon senators aims to punish Saudi Arabiafollowing shocking allegations that the kingdom has whisked as many as five young men facing criminal charges, ranging from rape to murder, out of the country from that state alone.

Speaking publicly for the first time Thursday, the parents of Fallon Smart, a 15-year-old victim of a hit and run by Saudi student Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah in 2016, said they were horrified to learn their daughter’s alleged assailant had disappeared two weeks before his trial with the help of the Saudi government. Noorah was charged with manslaughter, felony hit-and-run, and reckless driving in the teen’s death. He faced a minimum prison sentence of 10 years.

Federal investigators confirmed to the Oregonian/Oregon Live that a private lawyer hired by the Saudi consulate posted $100,000 of a $1 million bail for the 21-year-old and apparently arranged for a dark SUV to pick him up shortly after he left jail. His severed electronic bracelet was found at a nearby gravel yard. Authorities believe he was given a forged passport, since his was sequestered by Oregon authorities, and flown back to Saudi Arabia on a private jet. He was seen back in his home country a week after he disappeared.

More than 1.5 Million Foreign Workers Leave Saudi Arabia within 24 Months

Saudi Arabia's Insurance Institute revealed, on Thursday, a large statistic of the departure of foreign employees in Saudi Arabia during the past 24 months, after the increase in the unemployment rate among Saudi citizens to 12.9%. The firm said it had data showing that 1.6 million foreign workers from the Saudi private sector had left their jobs since the beginning of 2017 until the end of 2018.

Saudi Arabia's redundancy in foreign and private sector employees is 75.5 percent due to the unemployment rate of 12.9 percent among Saudi citizens.

A United Nations probe into the death of Jamal Khashoggi will not immediately land any of the Saudi journalist’s killers behind bars, but it may kickstart a process that could lead to sanctions and international criminal prosecution, legal experts told Middle East Eye.

The first independent probe into Khashoggi’s death began this week with the arrival of a three-person UN team in Turkey. The probe comes more than three months after Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi-government critic and MEE columnist, was murdered and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

While high-ranking Saudis are largely shielded thanks to the oil exporter’s funding ties with the United States and Britain, the UN inquiry may yet prove irksome and even dangerous for those behind the assassination, analysts told MEE.

The UN probe, led by the Agnes Callamard, the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, may be one of the building blocks that ultimately lands Khashoggi’s killers in court, said Richard Dicker, an international human rights lawyer. “Callamard’s inquiry is not a criminal investigation, it’s a fact-finding mission, and its standards for the burden of proof are different. But, if her report is passed to a criminal prosecutor, it could be very helpful in developing evidence for a criminal complaint,” Dicker told MEE.

Call your members of Congress. After you talk to your U.S. Rep's office, call again and ask for your U.S. Senators. Tell them to co-sponsor the Sanders-Lee Yemen War Powers Resolution, S.J.7, if they haven't yet.

“My daughters are always on the phone crying to each other .... There’s nothing in my hands to do,” said Yemeni-American father Mohamed Alahiry.

Mohamed Alahiry is proud of the fact that he comes from a long line of Americans. His family first came to the United States from Yemen in 1928, and, like his great-grandfathers, grandfather and father before him, the 33-year-old calls the U.S. home.

And like the other men in his family, he had hoped to bring his wife from Yemen to the United States to raise their four daughters here together. For now, his wife and 12-year-old daughter remain in limbo abroad.

And with President Donald Trump’s travel ban still in effect, Alahiry isn’t sure if he will ever be able to reunite with his family.

NewsGuard and Microsoft Team Up To Destroy Independent Media Ahead Of 2020 Elections; Linked To Several Think Tanks, Government Officials

The service NewsGuard, an establishment attempt to silence alternative media and independent media sites, has teamed up with Microsoft to help its effort to destroy free press. Meanwhile, the mysterious firm connected to intelligence agencies and former government officials on their advisory board has also just been linked to Saudi Arabia through Publicis Groupe, an investor in NewsGuard.

NewsGuard is now automatically included in Microsoft’s Edge browser on iOS, Android and Microsoft phones. Microsoft’s press release regarding the partnership states that NewsGuard “will empower voters by providing them with high-quality information about the integrity and transparency of online news sites.” Just one problem, who is providing transparency about the news rating agency?

When a user decides to search the Web, the extension tells the user whether or not a story is credible or not credible with 5 indicators and an information box judging the website.

There is just one problem: the plugin is only blacklisting certain sites and does not actually have fact checkers looking into the story in question. So, in fact, the service is censoring alternative and independent media. But, let’s be honest, that’s exactly what its founders, creators, funders, and advisors want.

Mariah Carey plans to make her live debut in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, January 31st, dismissing calls to cancel her concert as a symbolic show of support for the detained women’s rights activists and the victims of Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen.

Disappointed by Mariah Carey's refusal to act on behalf of Saudi women and suffering Yemenis by canceling her Saudi performance, CODEPINK is launching a broad-based campaign calling on all musicians, artists, businesses, think tanks and universities to boycott, divest, and sever ties to the Saudi regime.

Over the past week activists, journalists, Saudi women, and human rights groups have been calling on Mariah Carey to cancel her performance in Saudi Arabia. Ms. Carey ignored them.

Four months after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the Saudi regime is trying its hardest to pretend nothing ever happened.

Instead of allowing investigators to properly look into the murder and other human rights abuses, the regime has a better plan: Bring in American celebrities!

Saudi Arabia announced this week that the country would “usher in a Year of Entertainment in 2019." The announcement said that the head of the General Entertainment Authority, Turki al-Sheikh, wants to make Saudi Arabia “a top 10 destination for entertainment.”

The news release claims Western brands and celebrities are currently in negotiations to go to Saudi Arabia. The release said the entertainment authority "is negotiating long-term contracts with more than 100 local and international partners, with plans to bring musicians including Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, along with international comedians Trevor Noah, Chris Rock, Seth Rogen and Gabriel Iglesias, among others to the kingdom.”

But it looks like at least some of these “contracts” might be as fake as the viral but ill-fated Fyre Festival in the Bahamas in 2017.

Carey is already trying to spin the trip. She apparently viewed her Riyadh show as “a positive step towards the dissolution of gender segregation” in Saudi Arabia, her publicists told the Associated Press.

I don’t recognize this despot-loving Carey. If someone could help me find the Mariah Carey from my childhood, who was once held up as a icon, that would be great – by Karen Attiah

My comment to comment: Well, this shows that even tenthousands of killed people and a ravaged country do not matter at all even for so-called “liberals” in the US.

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US Travel Ban Traumatizes Yemeni Women

The case of Shaima al-Sweileh, the Yemeni mother denied entry into the United States as part of President Donald Trump’s Travel Ban, illustrates the damage that the travel ban is inflicting on Yemeni women seeking to rejoin their families in the US. Al-Sweileh had to wait months for a visa so that she could travel to the US to say goodbye to her dying two-year old son who was in hospital in California. The travel ban had left her stranded in Egypt and she was allowed entry to the US only after public outcry mounted and an exceptional visa was issued.

Yemeni women and their families, fleeing the 4-year war in Yemen, face the prospect of living in limbo for years as they await visas to the United States. Women4Yemen Network contacted a number of women trapped in Jordan, Djibouti, Egypt, and Malaysia to hear their stories.

“Shaima’s is only one story. Other Yemeni women experience the same suffering because of Trump’s decision,” said one interviewee in Djibouti. “Shaima’s suffering was heard, while ours is not.”

Yemini Women face the stress of being left alone to care for their families in foreign countries. They are under immense pressure to economically provide for their family, care for their children, secure healthcare, and all the while dealing with the host country and US visa procedures as they strive to re-unite their families.

Families are often separated because some members receive a visa, while others are left to wait. It is usually the women who remain with family members who have yet to get their visas. The interviewees revealed that the separations have resulted in psychological trauma for the children and poor school performance.

My comment: Saudi killers taking part in US exercise at air base in the US.

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RELEASE: BIPARTISAN COALITION IN SENATE AND HOUSE ANNOUNCE NEW PUSH TO END U.S. SUPPORT FOR SAUDI-LED WAR IN YEMEN

January 30, 2019, Press Release

Washington, DC -- Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) renewed their efforts in the Senate and House Wednesday to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen pursuant to the War Powers Resolution.

Presenter: Richelle Carey, Guests: Adam Baron - Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations; Scott Lucas - Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham; Catherine Shakdam - Researcher with Al-Bayan Center for Strategic Studies

United States Budgetary Costs of the Post-9/11 Wars Through FY2019: $5.9 Trillion Spent and Obligated

The United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $5.9 trillion (in current dollars) on the war on terror through Fiscal Year 2019, including direct war and war-related spending and obligations for future spending on post9/11 war veterans (see Table 1). This number differs substantially from the Pentagon’s estimates of the costs of the post-9/11 wars because it includes not only war appropriations made to the Department of Defense – spending in the war zones of Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and in other places the government designates as sites of “overseas contingency operations,” – but also includes spending across the federal government that is a consequence of these wars. Specifically, this is war-related spending by the Department of State, past and obligated spending for war veterans’ care, interest on the debt incurred to pay for the wars, and the prevention of and response to terrorism by the Department of Homeland Security.

If the US continues on its current path, war spending will continue to grow. The Pentagon currently projects $80 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) spending through FY2023. Even if the wars are ended by 2023, the US would still be on track to spend an additional $808 billion (see Table 2) to total at least $6.7 trillion, not including future interest costs. Moreover, the costs of war will likely be greater than this because, unless the US immediately ends its deployments, the number of veterans associated with the post-9/11 wars will also grow. Veterans benefits and disability spending, and the cost of interest on borrowing to pay for the wars, will comprise an increasingly large share of the costs of the US post-9/11 wars.

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

UK government facing condemnation over joint military exercise with Saudi Arabia

Labour calls on government to suspend operations without delay amid kingdom’s ongoing involvement in Yemeni civil war

A joint military exercise between the UK and Saudi Arabia is due to commence this weekend despite widespread condemnation of the kingdom’s role in the four-year-old Yemeni civil war.

Around 100 British Navy crew are set to participate in the five-day drill with Saudi forces on Sunday, leading to accusations against the government’s “complete abdication” of Britain’s moral responsibility.

Lashing out at the plans in an article for The Independent, the shadow defence secretary Nia Griffiths today calls on ministers to suspend any future joint exercises with the Saudi kingdom, without delay.

Responding to a parliamentary question tabled in the House of Commons, the armed forces minister Mark Lancaster said the UK had two planned military exercises with the Saudi kingdom in the coming weeks.

Historian Mark Curtis has pinpointed why the British government is getting away with such dangerously “extreme” foreign policies.

On 30 January, he seemed to place the blame firmly on mainstream journalists:

UK foreign secretary is having a busy week: he's backed a US coup, praised a war criminal and congratulated an apartheid state. Imagine being a journalist ("no-one tells me what to write") and not reporting on how extreme UK foreign policy is. https://t.co/G3Mvs5U1gN

The hypocrisy goes further, though. Because the UK backs brutal dictators and regimes around the world. And its fellow coup plotters in the US support the vast majority of the planet’s dictatorships. Both London and Washington love the Saudidictatorship, for example. That’s in spite of it creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with help from over £4.6bn worth of UK arms.

Considering their terrible records of propping up dictators and fuelling humanitarian crises, any UK or US attempt to play the ‘global police force’ on democracy and human rights is just empty and hypocritical posturing. And a new Control Arms UK report is a perfect wake-up call for Britain to put its own affairs in order before pushing for coups elsewhere.

"The main international and regional forces are now responsible for the catastrophic situation in #Yemen." This sentence was a summary of the recent conference of the Alliance of Civil Society Organizations in #Berlin organized by the Booker Advise on Human Rights and Gender Issues.

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

While most of the countries promote diplomacy on a specific political ideology and economic interests, which are often short term, Oman on the other hand, relies on long term diplomacy.

The country believes that peaceful negotiations are pivotal for its long-term prosperity and security, primarily due to the fact that Oman has limited military strength that it uses for its internal security.

In recent times, Oman has been a mediator in the Qatar diplomatic crises, to help facilitate the signing of Iran nuclear deal, and offering secret negotiation between warring parties in Yemen.

Ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next week, Amnesty International highlighted the ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression in the country and called on Pope Francis to raise with the authorities the cases of jailed human rights defenders. Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, said:

“The UAE authorities are trying to brand 2019 as the “year of tolerance” and are now seeking to cast the Pope’s visit as proof of their respect for diversity. Does this mean they are ready to reverse their policy of systematic repression of any form of dissent or criticism?

“Since 2011, the authorities have systematically cracked down on their critics, including activists, judges, lawyers, academics, students and journalists by way of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearance, torture and other-ill-treatment.

“It will take more than symbolic meetings to gloss over the UAE’s appalling human rights record. The fanfare around Pope Francis’ visit will be missed by the many human rights defenders, including Ahmed Mansoor, Nasser bin Ghaith and Mohammed al-Roken, who are serving lengthy prison sentences simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression. We are calling on Pope Francis to raise the issue of their incarceration with his hosts, and urge their immediate and unconditional release.

Pope Francis will be the first pontiff to visit the Arabian peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, when he celebrates mass this week in front of an expected 120,000 people in Abu Dhabi.

The pope has been invited to visit the United Arab Emirates by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, to take part in an international interfaith meeting as part of the Gulf state’s “year of tolerance”.

But Francis has faced criticism over the two-day visit because of the UAE’s part in the war in Yemen as a member of the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi armed movement

The Turkish government announced on Thursday a $100 million grant to the Yemeni government to implement a number of development and relief projects in Yemen, the state news agency Saba reported.

This came during a meeting with Minister of Planning and International cooperation Najib Al-Awog, with Turkish ambassador to Yemen Farouk Bozkor, where it was agreed to allocate 180 scholarships from the Turkish side to the Ministry of Education and allocate a number of scholarships for postgraduate studies and scientific research.

It was also agreed to allocate 100 treatment grants annually in Turkish hospitals, with coordination to visit a Turkish medical team to discuss with the Ministry of Health about the mechanism of sending patients and wounded.

Special Report: Inside the UAE’s secret hacking team of U.S. mercenaries

Stroud had been recruited by a Maryland cyber security contractor to help the Emiratis launch hacking operations, and for three years, she thrived in the job. But in 2016, the Emiratis moved Project Raven to a UAE cyber security firm named DarkMatter. Before long, Stroud and other Americans involved in the effort say they saw the mission cross a red line: targeting fellow Americans for surveillance.

“I am working for a foreign intelligence agency who is targeting U.S. persons,” she told Reuters. “I am officially the bad kind of spy.”

The story of Project Raven reveals how former U.S. government hackers have employed state-of-the-art cyber-espionage tools on behalf of a foreign intelligence service that spies on human rights activists, journalists and political rivals.

Interviews with nine former Raven operatives, along with a review of thousands of pages of project documents and emails, show that surveillance techniques taught by the NSA were central to the UAE’s efforts to monitor opponents. The sources interviewed by Reuters were not Emirati citizens.

The operatives utilized an arsenal of cyber tools, including a cutting-edge espionage platform known as Karma, in which Raven operatives say they hacked into the iPhones of hundreds of activists, political leaders and suspected terrorists. Details of the Karma hack were described in a separate Reuters article today.

A team of former U.S. government intelligence operatives working for the United Arab Emirates hacked into the iPhones of activists, diplomats and rival foreign leaders with the help of a sophisticated spying tool called Karma, in a campaign that shows how potent cyber-weapons are proliferating beyond the world’s superpowers and into the hands of smaller nations.

The cyber tool allowed the small Gulf country to monitor hundreds of targets beginning in 2016, from the Emir of Qatar and a senior Turkish official to a Nobel Peace laureate human-rights activist in Yemen, according to five former operatives and program documents reviewed by Reuters. The sources interviewed by Reuters were not Emirati citizens.

The Reuters report is not the only evidence of attempts by the UAE government to conduct offensive cyber campaigns against Qatar and other governments—those campaigns included a May 2017 attack on the Qatar News Agency's website to publish faked statements by the Emir of Qatar praising the government of Iran, which triggered the still-ongoing diplomatic standoff between Qatar and other Gulf nations. Saudi Arabia also appears to have been involved in the hacking operation, which occurred just after a visit to Riyadh by President Trump. Trump had tweeted his support for actions against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt despite the US' alliance with Qatar and the presence of a major US military facility there.

The UAE bought mobile device spyware from the NSO Group, an Israeli company, as far back as 2013. The country targeted members of the Qatari royal family, Qatari journalists, and domestic targets including Emirati human rights activists, according to reports. A staff member of Amnesty International working in Saudi Arabia was also targeted, as were members of the Saudi royal family, based on leaked documents and emails cited in a lawsuit against NSO. The exploit offered by NSO used a malicious text message to gain access to devices.

Saudi prince Mutaib bin Abdullah—who was arrested in November of 2017 along with 10 other Saudi princes in an "anti-corruption" campaign by Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman—was specifically targeted.

It took the Emirati students four months of research and three months of putting together materials to complete their project.

'Al Monqth' (the Arabic word for rescue) - an armband and drones system project which can track down lost soldiers or those facing problems in the battlefield - was inspired by the UAE military men's involvement in the war in Yemen, according to the Emirati student creators.

"Our military men sacrificing their lives to rescue and protect the people of Yemen made us come up with this life-saving system, which aims to give fast and efficient assistance to soldiers during the war," said Auhood Mohammed Al Jailani, one of the students.

The disturbing news has broken that Bahrain intends to continue with the extradition request of Australian resident, Bahraini refugee and pro footballer Mr Hakeem Alaraibi. Bahrain has not responded to the international campaign and media pressure to withdraw their application, and Thailand has seemingly not sought a diplomatic resolution with Bahrain, a solution that is still available to Thai authorities.

cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis

Siehe / Look at cp12

(* B P)

Ahead of Qatar World Cup, a Gulf Feud Plays Out in the Shadows

The 2022 World Cup will be the first one played in the Arab world, and it has been a hot-button issue in soccer since the moment Qatar won the hosting rights. But in the 19 months since Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations began a punishing boycott of neighboring Qatar, the tournament has become something else: a proxy in the broader geopolitical dispute transfixing the Gulf.

The dispute has added a new dimension to a specialized industry in which consultants and other insiders can earn millions of dollars for their efforts to shift public opinion in favor of the nations that finance them, or against those countries’ rivals.

When a trove of the emails of the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Washington was stolen and released in 2017, for example, it revealed a broad influence campaign financed by the U.A.E. that hoped to use American journalists and think tanks to reposition Qatar and its World Cup in a negative light. A year later, an article in Britain’s Sunday Times suggested that Qatar was just as adept at those kinds of shadow campaigns: The Times’s reporting showed that Qatar had hired an American public relations firm to disparage its 2022 rivals during its campaign to win the World Cup.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a return to “unity and harmony” on Thursday as he welcomed gas-rich Qatar’s emir to Beijing, amid a dispute that has seen some Arab states led by Saudi Arabia severing relations with Doha.

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade

The Yemeni Interior Ministry thwarted in recent days an attempt to smuggles dozens of rockets and drones to the capital Sanaa, which is held by the Iran-backed Houthi militias. First Interior Ministry Undersecretary Mohammed bin Abboud al-Sharif told Asharq Al-Awsat that the perpetrators sought to smuggle their goods to the Houthis through the eastern coast of Yemen that is controlled by the legitimate government. The smuggled shipment was intercepted on the outskirts of the Maarib and al-Jawf regions before they arrived at their final destination in Sanaa, he revealed. The smugglers were arrested and they have since been referred to the general prosecution, Sharif stated.

cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

Vandalised, caught in the crossfire, burnt to the ground: Yemen’s churches, once filled by small but diverse Christian communities, are now abandoned after years of devastating conflict.

As Pope Francis prepares to make his first trip to the Gulf, neighbouring Yemen — in the grip of a conflict that has triggered what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis — is losing the last remnants of the cultural diversity that marked its rich history.

Today, four official parishes in Yemen are listed by the Catholic Church, and officials say the country is still home to a handful of Christians who mostly live in hiding as religious conservatives on all sides grow stronger.

Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, and Aden, the bastion of the rival government, are each home to a Catholic cathedral — or what was once a cathedral.

In the southern port city of Aden, the church has been targeted by arsonists, vandalised and closed for the foreseeable future.

Yemen’s minuscule Catholic community is mostly made up of foreigners, according to Bishop Paul Hinder, head of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia.

“It is unfortunately a sad reality and we pray that peace be soon restored in Yemen, especially as people suffer from hunger and the famine is affecting millions of people,” Hinder told AFP.

“Our services are at present suspended because of the war. But there are still nuns, the Sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta that have been serving the people for several decades and continue their good work.”

cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy

(A E P)

Yemeni Government Adopts Austere Monetary Policy

The Yemeni government announced adoption of austerity-wise monetary policy and reduction of unjustified spending, in a meeting of the Council of Ministers, at the interim capital here today. During the meeting, also, a draft framework for the general reference ceiling of the state budget for the Fiscal Year 2019, was set up. Yemeni Premier Moin Abdulmalik stressed preparing the budget, in an appropriate manner, in line with focusing on the tax, customs and oil revenues' collection, to contribute to the state treasury and strengthen the national economy.

Comment: I find this story very strange. It's as if Yemen hasn't been suffering austerity for the past three years when no salaries have been paid, no hospitals have received funding from government sources, no schools have had funding - the only thing that the government - and other warring parties - seem to spend money on is war.

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

(* B T)

Audio: The Sound of Danger in Yemen

At the site of a US drone strike in Yemen, amidst the twisted metal of a burnt out car, our correspondent Safa al-Ahmad has a close encounter with the Islamic State group. The fighters arrive on motorbikes, playing songs of war, and they’re only teenagers. Anu Anand introduces this and other stories from around the world.

cp15 Propaganda

The Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations Abdullah Ali al-Saadi said the humanitarian crisis in Yemen reached alarming levels due to the Houthi coup. Addressing a meeting in the UN headquarters in New York Saturday to prepare for a donor conference for Yemen on 26 February, he said the rebel militia had not limited their abuses to looting state institutions but even obstructing the work of humanitarian relief aid organizations and attacking their employees and aid stores. He cited the latest Houthi stealing of food aid and shelling of the wheat mills of Hodeidah.

The defeat of ISIS does not mean that Islamist extremism has been defeated.

We now face a real threat from a new al-Qaeda that not only carries the same evil ideology behind such atrocities as 9/11 and 7/7, but one that is energized by piggy-bagging on what seem to be benign human-rights causes. For al-Qaeda, Yemen is ideal ground on which to regroup and from which it can launch attacks. Yemen was already a launch pad for attacks against the West, but is set to become an even more dangerous focus.

Yemen has been a hotbed of extremism for decades. The failed Yemeni state has encouraged both Sunni and Shia Islamists to train their combatants to attack their enemies both inside and outside Yemen, including in the United Kingdom. They have succeeded in shedding blood on the streets of London before, and given half a chance, they will do so again. Doubting this irrefutable fact could cost innocent lives. The Iranian backed Houthi militias’ slogan of choice is “Death to Israel, death to America.” They are not only antisemitic and anti-Western, but they openly and unashamedly call for the annihilation of everything Western. In claiming responsibility for the 2010 US-bound cargo-planes bomb plot, al-Qaeda denounced Saudi Arabia’s help in uncovering the plot, saying, “God has exposed you and showed the world that you are nothing but treacherous agents to the Jews, because these bomb packages were headed to Jewish-Zionist temples, and you had to intervene with your treacherous ways to protect them”. This is what the Houthis share with the Sunni extremist camp, Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

WAR IS evil and no innocent human life is a price worth paying. But the war has been thrust upon the West and upon its Arab allies in Yemen to defeat those who threaten our way of life. Al-Qaeda sympathizers are again trying to infiltrate Western media.

My comment: This is Houthi propaganda. You don’t need such weapons as explanation for spreading epidemics.

(* B K P)

What Is at Stake in Yemen

Contrary to the prevailing perception that the conflict in Yemen has been forgotten by the international community, the war has garnered a fair amount of attention. However, what is being overlooked is what is at stake in Yemen, how the conflict started, and why it has continued. Instead of focusing exclusively on the Saudi-led coalition’s involvement in the conflict, those seeking to understand the war and the ensuing humanitarian crisis should examine Yemen’s turbulent history, fragile state, the Houthi rebels’ record of militancy, and Iran’s designs to create yet another proxy force in an Arab country.

A Simplistic and Largely Inaccurate Dominant Narrative

It has been tempting for some observers to portray the conﬂict in Yemen as a Saudi/Emirati war against their less developed and poorer neighbor to the south. In reality, it is a conﬂict that started long before the Saudi-led coalition formed and began providing military support to the Yemeni government in March 2015. At its core, the conﬂict is an armed insurrection that also has the characteristics commonly associated with civil wars.

Violent Militia and Endemic Problems Overlooked

Critics of the manner in which the Saudi-led coalition has conducted its military campaign seldom mention the fact that it was the Houthi rebels who began this war. It is also rarely mentioned that the Houthis have a long legacy of resorting to violence as a means to redress their perceived grievances or that they have a well-documented reputation for attacking civilian centers, using human shields, and recruiting child soldiers.

It is also important to note that there is ample evidence suggesting that — contrary to the prevailing perception among Western critics of Saudi Arabia — the Houthis have employed tactics and policies that could account for the majority of the most acute cases of food shortages, famine, and the spread of diseases.

A Closer Look at Civilian Casualties

And while the violence has taken a heavy toll on the civilian population in Yemen, one could make a compelling argument that it is the military tactics of the Houthirebels that are largely to blame for the collateral damage. Not only have the Houthisattacked civilian centers repeatedly during the course of the war — including southerncities and regions in Saudi Arabia — but their policy of using civilian centers andinstitutions (including schools, mosques, and hospitals) to hide military equipmentand personnel has vastly increased the chances of civilians being harmed by thecoalition’s airstrikes.

Nevertheless, the Saudi-led coalition’s spokespeople have acknowledged that mistakes have been made and that the coalition will hold those responsible for errant airstrikes.

The coalition’s Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) has investigated airstrikes in which civilians might have been harmed, according to human rights organizations. And while critics have questioned the objectivity of the JIAT process, there appears to be no Houthi equivalent to investigate civilian casualties due to their attacks and no indication of a Houthi ofﬁcial issuing any apology. That suggests that Houthi attacks are not mistakes, but rather a deliberate policy.

US and UK Assistance Sought and Received

In addition, the Saudi-led coalition has also sought and received the assistance of both the United States and the United Kingdom to improve the accuracy of its targeting. I have personally listened to a lengthy presentation by a representative of the coalition detailing the multilayered safeguards put in place to minimize civilian casualties – By Fahad Nazer.

Fahad Nazer is an International Fellow with the NationalCouncil on U.S.–ArabRelations, a columnist for theSaudi newspaper Arab News and a political consultant to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington

US policies for the Middle East no longer take a long view, emphasizing profits over human rights, neglecting allies and boosting Iran

When the Yemen conflict began in 2011, Iran supported the Houthis as those Shiite tribes ousted the government by March 2015. Panicking, Saudi Arabia initiated an Arab coalition force to restore Sunni control within Yemen. The US provided the Saudi-led coalition with weapons, midair refueling and strike-site intelligence.

Yemen thus became a proxy warzone between Washington and Tehran. But for America’s Arab Sunni allies the fight is very real. Saudi Arabia spends about $6 billion per month on the war, yet Arab coalition forces only hold on due to Sudanese, Pakistani, Islamists and child-soldiers. Assisted by Iranian technology and advisors, Houthis have targeted Riyadh with missiles since mid-2018, thus bringing the battle into the heartland of Washington’s Arab proxy.

Iran stands to gain much if Houthis remain in charge of Yemen, including airfields and naval bases at Aden and other coastal cities. Deployment at those sites would permit Tehran to partially regulate passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, plus provide the IRGC direct access to countries along the Horn of Africa.

Trump, Pompeo and other US officials are imprudent in claiming they will “expel every last Iranian boot.” Withdrawing the United States from serious multilateral engagement does not curtail Iran’s influence. Consequently, far from “pulling out,” Iran expands its international footprint. This does not bode well for the United States nor for regional allies like Saudi Arabia and Israel who already turn to Russia and China for new axes of stability and power.

According to the Yemeni media 'Al-Masirah', Brigadier General Yahya Saree said 88 civilians including 22 kids and 8 women were killed and 117 more were injured. He added that Saudi's crimes against Yemeni children uncover the false claims made by the international community and the so-called defenders of human rights. Referring to at least 30 air attacks every day in Yemen, he said Saudi coalition and its allies have violated the truce agreement 4,621 times since the ceasefire was declared.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has attacked a site east of the capital Sanaa which the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement used to store drones, Saudi news agency SPA said on Thursday.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki was quoted as saying the bombardment was part of a two-week-old operation to destroy the Houthis’ drone capabilities following a deadly drone attack on a Yemeni government military parade.

#Saudi just commited another crime, raiding my friend’s family house’s in #Hajja Governorate, #Yemen , after they failed to break through the area on grounds. Abdullah was killed in the raids & houses truned into rubbles.

Saudi Air Force today targeted our houses in Hajjah, the house of Abdel Salam Ahmed Jahaf and the house of Ibrahim Ahmed Jahaf in Al-Abisa area, Jabal Al-Qayyim, which led to the martyrdom of Abdullah Abbas Ahmed Jahaf (photo)

Reham Al- Badr has paid her life for defending #human_rights and providing relief in #Taiz. A sniper killed her in Taiz. Her colleagues said she has always been working in silence and looking for no fame.

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

(B H)

Film: Yemeni photographer Ali Alsonidar puts himself at risk when looking for the most beautiful and vivid portraits out of Sana'a. His work has gained him international recognition and addresses some of the most pertinent issues in Yemen today.

Ruins is a new campaign to paint on what is left of the walls left by the external and internal wars in Yemen. The campaign was launched on May 18, 2015, in Bani Hawwat area, Sana’a Governorate, where the air strikes destroyed more than seven houses there and killed 27 civilians, including 15 children.

Ruins campaign is targeting the areas that are destroyed by both internal and exterior conflicts and it aspires to move to other provinces subject to destruction by these conflicts, but only if the appropriate conditions allowed. Until then, “Ruins” campaign will seek to cover the devastated areas, which are accessible under these hard times experienced in Yemen. (photos)

I write on the 28th of March: ‘Sana’a is a strange and marvellous town, which seems to have just gone out of a Thousand and One Nights tale. To remind you of reality, there is the fearful din of the many backfiring motorbikes and of the cars which never stop hooting, without any reason. There is also dust, everywhere. Every house looks like a palace and a fortress at the same time. Yemen is a fantastic country for tourists [which can put up with Spartan conditions – there are few infrastructures to accomodate visitors], but not so funny for [foreign] residents, for in such a pure [sic] Muslim country, there is no distraction. Living is very expensive as well’. (photos)